![]() ![]() Clan members were the aristocracy, and the royal line which controlled the Yamato court was at its zenith. Each clan was headed by a patriarch (氏上, Uji-no-kami), who performed sacred rituals to the clan's kami (objects of worship) to ensure its long-term welfare. The Yamato polity, which emerged by the late 5th century, was distinguished by powerful clans (豪族, gōzoku). According to the Book of Song, Yamato relationships with China probably began in the late 4th century. During the 6th century, the Yamato clans began to dominate the southern half of Japan. Autonomy of local powers remained throughout the period, particularly in Kibi (the present-day Okayama Prefecture), Izumo (current Shimane Prefecture), Koshi (current Fukui and Niigata Prefecture), Kenu (northern Kantō), Chikushi (northern Kyūshū), and Hi (central Kyūshū). Yamato rule is usually believed to have begun about 250 AD, and it is generally agreed that Yamato rulers had keyhole-kofun culture and hegemony in Yamato until the 4th century. Kofun burial mounds on the island of Tanegashima and two very old Shinto shrines on the island of Yakushima suggest that these islands were the southern boundary of the Yamato state it extended north to Tainai in the present-day Niigata Prefecture, where excavated mounds have been associated with a person closely linked to the Yamato kingdom. ![]() The last two great kofun are the 190-metre-long (620 ft) Imashirozuka kofun in Osaka (currently believed by scholars to be the tomb of Emperor Keitai) and the 135-metre long (443 ft) Iwatoyama kofun in Fukuoka, recorded in Fudoki of Chikugo as the tomb of Iwai (political archrival of Emperor Keitai). Keyhole kofun disappeared later in the 6th century, probably because of the drastic reformation of the Yamato court Nihon Shoki records the introduction of Buddhism at this time. The keyhole kofun spread from Yamato to Kawachi-with giant kofun, such as Daisenryō Kofun-and then throughout the country during the 5th century. In the Makimuku district of Sakurai, later keyhole kofuns ( Hashihaka Kofun, Shibuya Mukaiyama Kofun) were built during the early 4th century. The oldest Japanese kofun is reportedly Hokenoyama Kofun in Sakurai, Nara, which dates to the late 3rd century. Iron helmet and armour with gilt bronze decoration, 5th century ( Tokyo National Museum) The Kofun period recorded Japan's earliest political centralization, when the Yamato clan rose to power in southwestern Japan, established the Imperial House, and helped control trade routes across the region. Īccording to the Nihon Shoki, Buddhism and the Chinese writing system were introduced near the end of the period from Baekje. This shows that Japan and the southern Korean Peninsula influenced each other. Wall decorations and Japanese-style armor, which are characteristic of older Japanese burial mounds, were excavated from 5th century burial mounds in the southern Korean Peninsula. On the other hand, the most prosperous keyhole-shaped burial mounds in Japan during this period were approximately 5,000 in Japan from the middle of the 3rd century in the Yayoi period to the 7th century in the Asuka period, and many of them had huge tombs, but in the southern Korean Peninsula there were only 13 from the 5th century to the 6th century, and the tombs were small. Continuing from the Yayoi period, the Kofun period is characterized by influence from China and the Korean Peninsula archaeologists consider it a shared culture across the southern Korean Peninsula, Kyūshū and Honshū. The word kofun is Japanese for the type of burial mound dating from this era. This period is the earliest era of recorded history in Japan, but studies depend heavily on archaeology since the chronology of historical sources tends to be distorted. The Kofun and the subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes collectively called the Yamato period. The Kofun period ( 古墳時代, Kofun jidai ) is an era in the history of Japan from about 300 to 538 AD (the date of the introduction of Buddhism), following the Yayoi period. ![]()
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